Moroccan government intervenes to cancel controversial 20% raise in transportation costs

After massive outrage dominated headlines this morning after transportation professionals announced a 20% rise in their service costs, sources have since confirmed that the government intervened and is “overturning” the decision.

Moroccans, fed up with the continual announcements of rising prices from various products and services providers, protested on social media after the announcement this morning.

Since then, governmental sources told Hespress AR that the Moroccan Association of Transport and Logistics canceled the 20% increase.

In a circular obtained by Hespress AR, the government has apparently intervened, and a discussion has now been initiated with sectoral unions in order to settle with transport companies.

The Moroccan Association of Transport and Logistics attributed the rise to “the continuous rise in fuel prices at the international level,” resulting in a trending hashtag on Twitter, which demanded the resignation of Aziz Akhannouch, Morocco’s head of government.

Moroccans have been complaining of rising prices of basic goods such as bread, cooking oil, and fuel, but have seemingly had enough once other service industries started justifying price rises with “high international rates of petrol and diesel.”

Bouazza El Kharti, President of the Moroccan University for Consumer Protection, told Hespress AR that “the announcement is evidence of an ignorance of the laws in force at the international level.”

El Kharti clarified that “transport sector rates are codified, and are governed by certain national considerations,” noting that “the initial agreement on the increase is inconsistent with the law on freedom of prices and competition.”

The Moroccan League for Consumer Rights “condemned” the decision and called on the relevant authorities’ urgent intervention.

Despite rather positive indicators and forecasts, Moroccans are increasingly worried about a seemingly constant rise in living costs and are asking for the government’s interference.

Public anger seems to currently be directed at Akhannouch, as the owner of a major gas and fuel company, Afriquia Gas, and for his “inaction” in the face of spiking prices and “degraded economic situation for most citizens,” worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moroccan Twitter users are criticizing the head of government’s priorities, saying that “as a businessman himself, he is blatantly disregarding the citizens’ wellbeing for the benefit of private businesses.”

The Moroccan government had also previously attributed the rise of basic product prices to “an international spike of costs affecting the production and delivery lines,” as the government spokesperson Mustapha Baitas assured his cabinet is “closely following the issue and will intervene.”

Since then, the government has done little to limit the continuous rise of prices, as citizens continue to complain of the “significant blow administered to Moroccans’ purchasing power” after months of closed borders during crucial tourism months.